Monitoring Heat Losses Using Landsat ETM + Thermal Infrared Data: a Case Study in Unzen Geothermal Field, Kyushu, Japan

The Unzen geothermal field, our study area, is situated in the Shimabara Peninsula of Kyushu Island in Japan and is an area of active fumaroles.. Our prime objectives were (1) to estimate radiative heat flux (RHF), (2) to calculate approximately the heat discharge rate (HDR) using the relationship of RHF with the total heat loss derived from two geothermal field studies, and (3) finally, to monitor RHF as well as HDR in our study area using seven sets of Landsat 7 ETM + images from 2000 to 2009. We used the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) method for spectral emissivity estimation, the mono-window algorithm for land surface temperature (LST), and the Stefan–Boltzmann equation analyzing those satellite TIR images for RHF. We estimated that the maximum RHF was about 251 W/m² in 2005 and minimum was about 27 W/m² in 2001. The highest total RHF was about 39.1 MW in 2005 and lowest was about 12 MW in 2001 in our study region. We discovered that the estimated RHF was about 15.7 % of HDR from our studies. We applied this percentage to estimate HDR in Unzen geothermal area. The monitoring results showed a single fold trend of HDR from 2000 to 2009 with highest about 252 MW in 2005 and lowest about 78 MW in 2001. In conclusion, TIR remote sensing is thought as the best option for monitoring heat losses from fumaroles with high efficiency and low cost.     

Sources and transports of organochlorine pesticides in the Nanshan underground river,China

Karst areas have much higher ecological vulnerability and are prone to be contaminated. Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were detected in waters and sediment from the two sites of the karst Nanshan underground river system, China, to understand the sources and transport of OCPs in the underground river systems. Obviously, seasonal variations were found both in the waters and the sediments. Detected OCPs ranged from 61 to 936 ng L^?1 in the groundwaters and 51–3,842.0 ng g^?1 in the underground sediments, respectively. OCPs in groundwaters were mixture of younger and older residues from commercial sources. The maximum OCPs in the sediments of the underground river were historically older residues from commercial sources. The sources of OCPs in the waters and sediments of the underground river indicated that the surface systems play an important role in OCPs transport and pollution in the underground river. Karst features were liable for the transport behavior.     

Depositional characteristics of uranium tailings from Saskatchewan,Canada

The management of uranium tailings, generated as a by-product of ore processing, is particularly important to minimize the environmental footprint of the industry. A clear understanding of tailings slurry behavior is required at the time of deposition to help evaluate the storage capacity and life span of the containment facilities. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the segregation and self-weight settling properties of uranium tailings. Detailed laboratory investigations were conducted on tailings from 4, 5, and 6 % nominal mill feeds (high-grade McArthur River ores blended with special wastes on site) from the Cameco Key Lake operation. The results indicate that the three uranium tailings can be characterized as a sandy silt material with a negligible amount of clay. Their depositional behavior is governed by the initial solids content of the slurry. The investigated tailings showed insignificant segregation between 25 and 40 % initial solids content. The initial hydraulic conductivity during settling was about 10^?4 m/s at a void ratio of 4 and was increased by half an order of magnitude for the 4 % mill feed, and by almost two orders of magnitude for the 5 and 6 % mill feeds at a void ratio of 8. Over the same range of initial void ratio, the settling potential increased threefold: from 8 to 24 % for the 4 % mill feed and from 12 to 36 % for the 5 and 6 % mill feeds. The better rate and amount of dewatering of future high mill feed tailings as compared to the current low mill feed tailings means that the onsite containment facility can store more tailings thereby supporting a longer life span of the mill.     

Hydrocarbon source potential and depositional environment of the Surma Group shales of Bengal basin,Bangladesh

Surma Group is the most important geological unit of Bengal basin, Bangladesh, because petroleum resources occur within this group. It is mainly composed of alternation of shale and sandstone and the shale fraction has long been considered as source rocks and the sandstone fraction as reservoir. These source and reservoir rocks have been studied by different authors by different approach but none of them adopted organic geochemistry and organic petrology as a means of study of source rock and their possible depositional environment. A total of thirty shale core samples have been collected from eight different gas fields to fulfill the short coming. The collected samples have been subjected to Source Rock Analysis (SRA) and/or Rock-Eval (RE) followed by pyrolysis gas chromatography (PyGC), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), elemental analysis (EA) and organic petrological study such as vitrinite reflectance measurement and maceral analysis. The analyzed organic matter extracted from the shales of Surma Group consists mainly of Type III along with some Type II kerogen. The studied shales are mostly organically lean (TOC ±1%) and the extracted organic matter is fair to moderate. Based on these results, the analyzed shales have been ranked as poor (mostly) to fair quality source rock. The organic matter of the analyzed shale samples is thermally immature to early mature for hydrocarbon generation considering their T_max and measured mean vitrinite reflectance values. The hopane 22S/(22S + 22R), moretane/hopane ratio and sterane parameters are also in good agreement with these thermal maturity assessments. The predominance of odd carbons over even carbons (most common) and/or even carbons over odd carbon numbered n-alkanes, moderate Pr/Ph ratio, low to high Tm/Ts ratio, comparative abundance of sterane C₂₉ (i.e., C₂₉ >C₂₇>C₂₈), Pr/nC₁₇ — Ph/nC₁₈ values, C/S ratio and dominance of vitrinite macerals group with the presence of liptinite macerals demonstrate that the organic matter has derived mainly from terrestrial inputs with an insignificant contribution from the marine sources. The condition of deposition alternates from oxic to anoxic.     

Coping strategies with floods in Bangladesh: an empirical study

In the time of the flooding, rural people in Bangladesh suffer from the lingering effects of labor market disruption and income deficiency. This study shows a model based analysis on the research question, ??what coping strategies are followed by the flooded households in Bangladesh and how???. Data are collected through a three stage stratified random sampling technique on 595 flooded and rural households??. Survey is carried out aftermath of the flood in the year 2005, from four different districts in Bangladesh. A major proportion of households are found to borrow money or resources from informal sources, such as nearby shops or the pharmacy, friends or relatives, or local money lenders, to buy food items and other essentials. A censored tobit model analysis shows that households initiate coping with borrowing money after the realization of floods, and gradually lead to cope with savings and selling assets as the duration of flood increases.     

Summer monsoon rainfall scenario over Bangladesh using a high-resolution AGCM

Summer monsoon rainfall was simulated by a global 20 km-mesh atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), focusing on the changes in the summer monsoon rainfall of Bangladesh. Calibration and validation of AGCM were performed over Bangladesh for generating summer monsoon rainfall scenarios. The model-produced summer monsoon rainfall was calibrated with a ground-based observational data in Bangladesh during the period 1979–2003. The TRMM 3B43 V6 data are also used for understanding the model performance. The AGCM output obtained through validation process made it confident to be used for near future and future summer monsoon rainfall projection in Bangladesh. In the present-day (1979–2003) climate simulations, the high-resolution AGCM produces the summer monsoon rainfall better as a spatial distribution over SAARC region in comparison with TRMM but magnitude may be different. Summer monsoon rainfall projection for Bangladesh was experimentally obtained for near future and future during the period 2015–2034 and 2075–2099, respectively. This work reveals that summer monsoon rainfall simulated by a high-resolution AGCM is not directly applicable to application purpose. However, acceptable performance was obtained in estimating summer monsoon rainfall over Bangladesh after calibration and validation. This study predicts that in near future, summer monsoon rainfall on an average may decrease about ?0.5 % during the period 2015–2034 and future summer monsoon rainfall may increase about 0.4 % during the period 2075–2099.     

Sea Level Changes Along Bangladesh Coast in Relation to the Southern Oscillation Phenomenon

Interannual variations of sea level along the Bangladesh coast are quite pronounced and often dominate the long-term sea level trends that are taking place. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induced variation is an important component of interannual mode of variations. The present article deals with the relationship between the sea level variations along the Bangladesh coast and the Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The mean tide level data of monsoon season (June to September) pertaining to Hiron Point (in Sundarbans) and Char Changa (on the mouth of Meghna River) have been analyzed and correlated to the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The annual variation of mean tide level in the coastal areas of Bangladesh reveals that the tide level reaches its peak during the monsoon season. The maximum tide level during the calendar year is recorded in August. Thus, it is not surprising that the inundation of the coastal belt of Bangladesh due to the floods is most common during the summer monsoon season, especially from July to September. Therefore, the sea level variations during the monsoon are of paramount importance to Bangladesh. The results of the present study show that both at Hiron Point and Char Changa there is a substantial difference between the mean tide level during the El Niño and La Niña monsoons. The mean tide level at Hiron Point is higher by about 5 cm during August of La Niña years as compared to that during the El Niño years. The difference at Char Changa, which is located at the mouth of Meghna River, is much higher. This is probably due to the increased fresh water discharge into the Meghna River during La Niña years. Thus at the time of crossing of a monsoon depression, the chances of widespread inundation are higher during a La Nin~a year as compared to that during an El Niño year. The Correlation Coefficients (CCs) between Mean Tide Levels (MTLs) at Hiron Point and Char Changa and the SOI during September (at the end of monsoon) are +0.33 and +0.39 respectively. These CCs are statistically significant at 90% and 95% levels, respectively. These results may find applications in the preparedness programs for combating sea level associated disasters in Bangladesh.